Revenant Pervasion
by ohmygodagiantrock
Summary: A new change – a dark change – is blowing through Domino City, and its patrons don't know what to make of it. The pharaoh Atem having departed, can our heroes understand this new evil soon enough to stand against it, without him? More importantly, can they even survive long enough?
1. Winds of Change

A refreshing early autumn sun shone its rays across the quiet grounds of the Domino City KaibaLand amusement park, a cool contrast to the recent hot summer weeks. The crisp air typically meant shorter lines and overall thinner crowds, and sometimes the patrons got lucky with lower admission prices as the summer season came near its end. For Yugi Mutou and his group of friends, the weather was rarely even considered, and there were still handfuls of people comfortable with venturing to the park on chillier days. Rarely was the place deserted.

Taking full advantage of the discounts, Yugi, Anzu, Honda, Jounouchi, and his sister Shizuka spent the later part of their morning and early afternoon together, tiring themselves on the various rides and attractions.

Once they'd enjoyed a satisfying number of rounds on all their favorite rides and eaten their fill of discounted carnival food, the teenagers wandered around the vicinity, bickering playfully amongst themselves while they tried to regain their spent energy.

Anzu yawned. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm pretty worn out from all the activities. I could use a break." Shizuka, walking alongside her, nodded in agreement. The guys with them tried not to advertise their fatigue, but every now and then as they walked one of them could be caught yawning. Anzu kept her eyes peeled for a bench to rest on, but didn't see one in the immediate area.

"We _may_ have overdone ourselves today," Jounouchi conceded, "but I had to show off for my sis!" he quickly explained. "It ain't every day she gets to come with us! She ought to go on every ride she wants." Shizuka smiled up at her big brother, but something behind him caught her eye.

"Oh, what's that?" She asked, pointing into the distance. A small tent tucked away behind one of the group's most frequented rides caught the eye of the young red-headed girl. The tent was open in the front, displaying a rectangular table with paperwork stacked in neat piles. The back of the tent adjoined with a permanent structure behind it, appearing to be a storage facility of some sort. "That doesn't look too strenuous," she said with a smile for her friend. Curiosity arose and the teenagers approached.

"Good afternoon! Welcome to KaibaLand!" Greeted a cheery woman manning the tent. She had short black hair, pin straight and silky black. She wasn't tall, but certainly a good head and a half taller than Yugi.

"Thank you! Good afternoon to you too." Anzu responded. Yugi smiled warmly at the young employee. Her dress was similar to a few other workers they'd seen in the park, managing rides and serving food at booths—neat dark slacks and a white button-up top—but this employee was equipped with a badge on one sleeve. Yugi couldn't get a clear view of it, but vaguely wondered what it meant.

"Do you come to this park often?" She asked, shuffling through some papers.

Honda answered excitedly despite his oncoming fatigue, "Heck yeah, we come here all the time!"

"'Specially when my little sis' is in town," Jou smiled and threw a lazy arm over Shizuka, who smiled and hugged her brother's waist.

The woman behind the table laughed lightly at the enthusiasm. "Well, then! Since you're such faithful customers, perhaps you'd be interested to participate in beta-testing our newest attraction. That's what this," she gestured to her table and surrounding tent, "is all about. We won't be offering this exclusive testing for long, so I encourage you to try it!"

Skeptical at the woman's spiel, Anzu questioned the variety of attraction being offered. "Oh, behind me," the woman pointed out a curtain along the entire back wall of her tent that undoubtedly opened into the structure behind it, "is the entrance to the testing area, where we begin by screening our participants. After a few brief moments in the screening stage, you'll be able to start the gaming experience.

"We'll have several consoles set up in an environment specially designed to promote higher enjoyment and vastly decrease potential outside distraction. Our company, which focuses on games and innovative technological entertainment, believes that immersion into the various game worlds is essential to getting the most out of your experience," she finished with the same cheery note in her voice, but sounded like she'd given the speech a hundred times already.

Yugi's eyes began to light up at the mention of such an environment, and he eagerly accepted the paperwork the woman handed out.

"My name is Yori, by the way. If I could get any willing participants to fill these papers out so we can move on to the screening process and get you into some games, that'd be terrific."

"Sure, Yori," Jou said and accepted the papers. "But, uh, what's all this?"

"It's just a quick waiver form we'll need you to sign in order to begin. It's nothing important—just stating that if any health issues arise, Kaiba Corporation is not responsible for park inhabitants who've willingly agreed to join in the testing of pre-market products. But I assure you, there's no cause for alarm," Yori said with a light, cheerful grin.

"What kind of health concerns is KaibaCorp anticipating?" Anzu questioned further while she filled out the form.

"None, of course, but we have been advised to be wary of seizures in epileptic subjects, and some of the more interactive varieties of video games can cause motion sickness if played for longer than our company advises, but we haven't had any issues thus far! It's all legal mumbo-jumbo anyway! Just to protect ourselves from lawsuits."

Anzu, pacified, signed the waiver and handed in her paperwork with the rest of her friends. "What's the last page for? It's all blank." She pointed out the last piece of paper in her stapled packet, indicating that it had been printed with no ink whatsoever, and appeared to serve no purpose at all.

"That's for when the process is complete. While KaibaCorp enjoys giving sneak peeks of our products to selected individuals, what the company thrives on is feedback. We'll hang on to your papers while you're in the testing area, and when you're satisfied that you've sampled enough of our products, I'll hand them back for you to add your comments on that last page and they'll be submitted to KC headquarters for processing. The comments you write may very well determine the quality and features of these products once they hit the market. As you can imagine, these beta-testing sessions can be invaluable to us!"

"I bet!" Yugi chimed in. Stars glistened in his eyes at the prospect of helping KaibaCorp _make_ the games he was sure he would love. His contribution would be small, he knew however, but he was pleased about the idea nonetheless. "Where do we go from here?" he asked enthusiastically.

"Ah!" Yori looked down at the sheets in her hands. "Well, you see, normally we begin our testing in three-hour intervals, and you've just missed the mark for our most recent session. But I see you're Yugi Mutou, King of Games! I would be happy to squeeze you and your friends in."

"Alright! Let's play some games!" Honda shouted, and the boys cheered excitedly with him, while the two girls stood by and smiled.

Jounouchi yawned as they were ushered into the testing zone. "Hey, uh, Yori? I'm all on board for this whole thing and all, but how long's the screening thing supposed to last? I just had, like, six tacos and a couple of milkshakes… I don't wanna fall asleep on some guy's desk while he's asking me questions or whatever."

"Oh," Yori laughed at the inquiry. "No worries, sir. The screening process only takes a few minutes. We'll separate you each into your own booth," she said as they descended a set of stairs and entered what seemed to be the basement of the unmarked building. The room was dimly lit and lined with doors spaced very near one another. It appeared much bigger on the inside than anticipated. "You'll know when it's over and you can start with the games immediately. Right this way, everyone, and you can each find your way to a private booth. There, you'll find a chair you can have a seat in."

Each member of the party did as directed and found themselves an open stall. Once inside, as promised, a comfortable-looking leather chair stood in the center of the tiny cubicle. Jounouchi, still fatigued from his adventurous day, sprawled out in the chair and sighed. Once his door was shut behind him, the small room became dark. Not long after, his lids began to feel heavy. He began to doubt anymore if he would even make it to the games.

He could hear Yori's voice giving the group instructions from outside his closed stall door, and he vaguely heard mention of a helmet he was to wear. With a heavy arm he brushed his arm along the wall until he found the hook it was hanging on and obeyed, slipping the helmet over his head. The helmet was connected with wires to somewhere else on the wall that Jou didn't pay attention to. He let his eyes close while the woman outside the room continued to speak.

"The helmets you've put on is the instrument conducting the screening process, which works by measuring and analyzing your brain waves. This will continue while you play, as well, so that KaibaCorp may receive the most beneficial amount and quality of results." Jounouchi found himself struggling to stay awake, too fatigued from his day's adventures, and too comfortable in the soft seat beneath him. The words Yori spoke began to blur and fade.

"We want to understand… customers … deliver … best products…"

He thought vacantly that he would be disappointed to miss out on the games, but sleep was becoming far too persuasive. His mind steadily grew fuzzy as he drifted into sleep.

* * *

Honda stuffed his hands in his pockets and kicked at a piece of trash lying idly on the ground as he walked along the pathway of KaibaLand.

He observed his surroundings and decided that something felt noticeably _off_. The park was fairly unpopulated for the time of day and season. He wondered if there wasn't some other event in town attracting the usual KaibaLand patrons away. With Shizuka in Domino City for the last week, no one had been paying much attention to the local news—or much of anything but one another's company, since it was such a rare event for her to stay so long. He hoped there wasn't anything wrong.

"Honda!" A female voice called from behind him. Honda snapped to attention and spun to face the source of the voice. He suspected it belonged to Yori, coming to question his reason for leaving the testing station, but as the woman came closer into view he recognized her as Anzu.

"Oh! Anzu!" Honda blushed with surprise. "What are you doing out here? Are you done with the testing?" Anzu rolled her eyes at her schoolmate.

"I was going to ask you the same thing," she chided flatly.

"Well…" Honda puffed out his chest defiantly. "I asked first."

Anzu sighed. "I heard you leaving the area so I came to make sure you're ok. But you look just fine to me. So what _are_ you doing out here?"

"I think I had a faulty game corner. I put on that helmet but nothing happened." He decided not to explain that he had also been trying not to nap in the cubicle.

"And how long did you wait?"

"Like…" He paused to recall, "Five minutes!"

Anzu groaned at her friend. "That was the screening, idiot! Nothing was supposed to happen yet! It was busy measuring your brainwaves."

Honda deflated. "Oh. I, uh, I guess I missed that part of the instructions."

"Apparently. Some game fan you are! That testing was supposed to help KaibaCorp get feedback on their up-and-coming products."

"I'm not as into gaming as the other guys are," he admitted quietly. "But what's your excuse for skipping out? You never answered me. Aren't you interested in the games?"

"I never said I wasn't! They just... didn't have the kind of game available that I'm in the mood to play now..."

"And what kind of game is that? One of those dance-battle arenas?" He laughed.

"Hey, don't laugh!" She noticed that Honda seemed to be scanning the area, and used the motion to readjust the focus of the conversation. "So what are you doing out here instead?" He seemed to have already checked out, his attention on whatever he was looking at, so the question caught him off-guard.

"Oh, um… nothing much."

"Uh-huh," she said with skepticism. "That's why you're so obviously looking for something. Or some_one_? Shizuka's still at the testing site, you know," the girl teased.

"Yeah, I know. That's… kinda why I snuck away."

"Wait. I thought you liked her."

"I do!"

"Then…?" Anzu pried. Honda looked down at his feet, then at the few crumpled bills he was holding in his hand, while factors began to add up in the teenage girl's mind. "Wait a sec! Were you trying to buy something for her? I don't get why you'd have to sneak away to do something like that."

"I… I was trying to win her a prize. But I didn't feel like I could do that with Jonouchi breathing down my neck about leaving his sister alone."

"So, what then?" Anzu asked with a teasing tone. "You thought if you _"happened"_ to get a faulty console, you would have an excuse to come back out here and find some other games to play?" His cheeks reddened and he turned his face away from her. "I get it. And then you'd give the prizes to Shizuka? Cute, but transparent."

He snapped back to attention. "Transparent? What do you mean?"

"I mean that your tactic is obvious."

"Maybe now that I've explained it to you!" Honda defended, but Anzu rolled her eyes again.

"Whatever. Ignore my advice and keep up your strategies. They're working great. After all, you've got a _great_ track record when it comes to winning over the girls you have a crush on!" She teased. Honda tried to laugh off his embarrassment.

"Look, as long as we're out here, we might as well try your approach. Anyway I don't think they'll let us back in once we've interrupted the testing. There's not much else to do but wait for everyone else to finish up. Too bad that could take Yugi and Jounouchi _hours_, where games are involved.

"Yeah. But there's a problem. I've been walking around for a bit now, and all the game stations I come across seem to be closed already. I mean, where's the ring-toss, the balloon darts—heck, I'd even settle for a duck pond at this point! But all the booths I come across are closed up."

"There's got to be something around here somewhere. Let's go look. I'll help. Where haven't you tried yet?" She pulled him along by the elbow in the direction he pointed.

The pair didn't get far when Anzu paused in her stride. She noticed something small and black on the ground, to one side of the path, near a patch of grass. It immediately looked out of place compared to the cement pathways and perfectly manicured lawn. She leaned in closer to the ground, still a yard away, to get a better look.

"A feather," she said, idly. "From a crow?" she questioned. Honda paid the discovery no attention and chose not to stop, but Anzu seemed fixated. She allowed her gaze to sweep the path in front of her and sure enough, there were a few more tiny patches spread about and, if she wasn't mistaken, the tiny bits appeared to form a sort of messy trail. Anzu, frowning, leaned down closer to examine the trail, but pulled herself back and gripped Honda's arm, pointing.

"What is it?" he asked with a lack of concern. He peered over her shoulder to where she pointed, with her other hand covering her mouth. A closer glimpse revealed the color red tainting clumps of the feathers and parts of the walkway in little messy smears.

While Anzu grappled with her panic, Honda glanced around the path for the source. It didn't take him long before the short trail led him to a grimy cluster of tiny bones. Bird's wings could be recognized, still covered in most of their silky jet-black feathers, but that was all that was left of the bird. He reluctantly pointed the bones out to Anzu, who could only manage an initial glimpse before she had to turn herself away from the evidence completely.

"It's just a crow. It probably just got attacked by a wild animal – even a stray cat could have done that." _But KaibaLand should have a more effective beautification committee __and get this mess cleaned up__,_ Honda thought to himself.

But Anzu's concern shadowed him and he was inspired to follow the direction the trail had been leading, past the little corpse. He inched away from his friend while she stood by with her eyes squeezed shut, trying to get the image out of her head.

Beyond the bird was a set of bushes decorating a lamppost, and Honda spotted a few more feathers stuck on the leaves of the bush. He brushed one branch aside and peered into the depths of the foliage with caution. He looked on expecting to find some small animal, one which would probably leap out and scurry away.

Instead, to his own unexpected horror, he discovered a heaping pile of feathered remains, although there was not much left to each bird to call 'remains'. Bones—clean of any meat, more wingtips with feathers still attached, and other scattered parts lay discarded in a mound about the size of both of his shoes laid together. He could estimate that the mass was made up of the remains from nearly fifteen birds.

Honda was amazed that, despite the awful mess, the pile of bones was neatly gathered and stacked. By the brightness of the red blood, Honda deduced that the birds had not been harmed long ago; the attack had to have been recent. Still, a swarm of black flies hummed away around the pile, guarding what was left as their own.

Honda could not imagine an animal that would leave such a display, but was relieved that it hadn't been around long enough for him to detect much of a smell.

Anzu called to him, but when he looked back at her she still had not turned to face him. He moved back to her side on the path.

"What were you doing, Honda?" She finally looked at him. He suspected his face must have gone pale from the concerned way her eyes searched his. He shrugged to try to put her at ease.

"I thought I might find whatever did this," he gestured to the first little clump of feathers, "hiding in that bush. But whatever it was, it's gone now. We'd better go too, before it comes back."

Anzu agreed and clasped her hands behind her back to try and still their shakiness. She moved on with Honda, and the two of them circled the area, trying not to move too far from the testing booth in case their friends came looking for them.

Half an hour passed since Anzu and Honda crossed paths, but still they were unable to find what Honda was looking for.

"Maybe they're getting ready to close for the season," Honda commented as they passed another unmanned games booth. The pair was running low on unsearched areas close enough to their friends.

"Maybe it's the weather..."

"It's not really that cold out… but maybe. Come on, let's keep-"

"That's not what I meant. Look at the sky." Honda paused to see where Anzu was pointing, off in the distance. Honda had noticed the sun wasn't as bright in the sky, but hadn't bothered to examine the clouds.

He had never seen anything like them before. A front was moving in across the sky, but it didn't resemble the rainclouds Domino was used to receiving. The formation was off, unlike even the clouds he had learned of in school. Instead of the expected wall of vapor of an overcast sky, the billows appeared wispy like smoke, and formed deep waves, not unlike an aurora display. However, also like the aurora, the sky was dusted a concerning greenish-yellow hue.

"What is happening?" Honda whispered. Anzu couldn't stop staring. The sun still shone through uncovered patches, and the water droplets weren't so dense as to darken the sky utterly, but Anzu still began to fear for safety.

Although the air throughout the day had been quite still, a sudden breeze brushed against their cheeks just then, carrying on it the hint of an unfamiliar, and unpleasant, scent. Honda couldn't place it, but found himself reminded of the birds he'd seen. He shivered when he finally realized they hadn't seen any _live_ birds all day.

"We shouldn't be here," Anzu whispered. Honda nodded.

"Let's go warn the guys and get out of here. I'll gladly take a page out of everyone else's book today and go home early."

But the pair had only moved but a few steps when Honda spotted a figure in the distance, moving at a quick pace across the park. Honda could make out a shorter build and dark head of hair.

"Hey, that looks like a kid. Maybe we can ask him if he know what's going on here," Honda suggested. He pointed the figure out to her, and she visibly relaxed upon seeing another person moving about. The quietness of the area had begun to get under her skin.

"Yeah, definitely. And we can get him safely inside somewhere, too." Anzu squinted her eyes to gaze in the distance as she watched the figure move.

"Hey Anzu, I think… I think that's Mokuba!"

"I think you're right! Hey! Mokuba!" Anzu waved to the figure. "Mokuba, is that you?" The figure seemed to have heard her and paused in his movements, just long enough to look her way. He then veered from his path, resuming his pace but in the direction of the two teens.

"Hey you guys!" The figure, a boy, called urgently when he was in range. "What are you doing here?" He asked once he reached them, with an air of alarm, as though their presence was a crime. His breathing was heavy and his violet eyes were wide.

Honda pointed out the unusual cloud formation, which the boy had clearly already seen. He was about to explain the event with the feathers, without revealing the contents of the bush to Anzu, but didn't get very far before Mokuba stopped him.

"There isn't time for that!" Mokuba interrupted. "Look, I can't explain everything right now, but you should both follow me." He pushed past them, intending for them to accompany him.

"Wait a minute, Mokuba!" Anzu called, not moving her feet. "Has something happened?" _Are my friends ok?_ she thought, but found herself afraid to voice the question. The past had already held too much danger and pain for them all.

"Just come with me!" Mokuba called again, the same tone of urgency in his voice. He moved away from the teens, urging them again to follow, and finally they obeyed.

Mokuba continued to run ahead of the two teenagers until he reached the entrance to a small building nearby shaped—like many structures within the park—like a Blue Eyes White Dragon, the elder Kaiba's signature monster. Above the roof of the building ran a dragon-shaped monorail train which provided transportation around the entire park, and the small building appeared to be the station from which to board. However, like much of the rest of the area, the building seemed to be empty and non-operational.

Mokuba slipped an electronic identification card from his pocket and swiped it through the lock on the door, just as the out of breath teenagers caught up to him.

"What's the deal, kid? Are we getting a private tour or some–-"

"No." Mokuba stopped Honda mid-question with a dark tone. The three slipped inside the structure and Mokuba entered a quick code to lock the glass door behind them.

The young boy turned back to the others. His eyes matched the darkness in his voice, and Honda knew something _had _to be wrong. His suspicion was be validated even before Mokuba spoke.

"We're in trouble."

Anzu wasn't surprised to hear the words, but feared them nonetheless. Worry for her friends pulsed through her heart. _What if they can't get to safe grounds before something bad happens?_ she wondered frightfully.

An image of the pile of crow feathers and bones flashed in her mind for an instant before she had to push it away. She tried not to imagine just what kind of new storm was heading for Domino City. Would her friends once again become prey?


	2. Unguarded

**rev·e·nant  
**_n__oun _\ˈre-və-ˌnäⁿ, -nənt\  
—**revenant**: one that returns after death or a long absence.

**per·vade**  
_verb _\pər-ˈvād\  
**–-****pervade**: to spread through all parts of (something): to exist in every part of (something)  
per·vad·ed, _per·va·sion_

* * *

Jounouchi was startled from a dream he couldn't quite remember, by a hand on his shoulder.

"Jounouchi!" Yugi's voice came from behind him. He opened his bleary eyes and slowly let his fogged mind connect the voice with the hand on his shoulder. "Come on, Jou, wake up."

"Time to go?" He mumbled sleepily. He struggled to get the helmet he'd slept in off of his head, but Yugi had to help him out of it and return it to its hook.

"Yeah, I guess the session is over."

"Ya guess?"

Yugi gave an embarrassed half-smile and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, well… I sort of ended up… _dozing,_ too. Just for a little bit."

Jounouchi laughed at his small friend. "Guess we shoulda put some more time between our giant discount lunch and sittin' in these comfy chairs," he commented. "I bet Honda passed out for a bit too."

"I'll bet," Yugi agreed, but a little blush rose up on his cheeks. "I can't believe I fell asleep during a game."

"No kiddin'! If only Atem were around, he'd give you an ear-full!" Jounouchi joked. "How long was I out, Yug'? You know?"

Yugi shook his head. "Sorry. I'm not wearing a watch."

"Me neither," Jounouchi grumbled. The pair exited his cubicle together. "Hey, you at least get to try the games?"

"Not really…"

"I'm a little worried about how long we could've been asleep, though." Yugi pointed out the open doors of the stalls around them. "You and I are the only ones here anymore."

"What?" Alarm caught up to Jounouchi and he became more alert. "Where'd they all go? They couldn't have gone far without us, right?"

"I don't know. I didn't go looking for anyone yet. I wanted to wake you up first. I'm sure they're just waiting for us outside," he smiled reassuringly. Jounouchi led the way back up in the direction they'd come in. They stopped inside the tent to note their surroundings before exiting the booth, and found that all but the table had been packed up and removed. None of the papers were scattered across the table's surface, and even the metal chair Yori had been using was folded up in one corner. The two teenagers looked at each other in bewilderment.

Yugi stepped out of the small tent and observed the darkening sky. None of their friends were in sight.

"Maybe they just couldn't wake us up an' went home, figurin' we'd be along later. It ain't like neither of us knows how to get back home."

"And they know that," Yugi nodded. "I'll bet that's it. But just to make sure, we should get to a pay phone and check on Anzu. Does Shizuka have a cell? I don't remember."

"No she doesn't." Jounouchi's brow became knitted with concern. "Shizuka. She's been stayin' with me and our old man while she's visiting. But those two don't get along that great. I'd almost rather she _didn't_ go home."

"Maybe she went home with Anzu."

"Yeah, let's call Anzu."

"We have to find a phone, first. I think there was one back by the snow cone stand," Yugi muttered. He was about to start in that direction, but suddenly stopped. "Wait a minute. Jou?"

"Hmm?"

"When does the park close?"

"Uh… nine?"

"And the sun hasn't even fully set yet, so it can't be that late."

"So? That's good, right? They can't kick us out or lock us in or nothin' yet."

"Well, yeah, but…" Yugi looked all around them, to both sides and behind as well. "Where's everyone _else_?" Realization dawned on Jounouchi as he noticed alongside his friend that, from all the pair could see, they were completely alone. The eeriness made Yugi shiver.

"The park was already kinda deserted earlier. Maybe something really big is happening somewhere else. You know of any game tourneys going on?"

Yugi opened his mouth to respond but was silenced by a distant, shrill scream. Both teens' eyes met, and went wide.

"That couldn't have been Anzu, could it?" Yugi asked hopefully. He didn't wish harm on anybody, but he would feel especially pained if his childhood friend were in danger.

"Or Shizuka." Jounouchi answered solemnly. He wasted no time before dashing off in the direction of the shriek, with Yugi immediately on his heels. Their shoes padded on the pavement like drum beats, thudding in sync with their heaving breaths.

"Hey!" Yugi called out into the emptiness before them. "Where are you?" The only answer that came was another scream. Yugi and Jounouchi increased their speed. In the distance ahead and somewhere to their right, they heard a low, gurgling snarl. The sound was so alien to the boys that they could conjure no image of a creature familiar to them that could produce such a powerful and angry-sounding gargle.

With renewed alarm, they cut across a patch of neatly manicured grass and whirled around one of the numerous snack bars toward the intended scene, but were stopped dead in their tracks at the display in front of them.

Atop a set of steps leading up to the enormous Blue Eyes Duel Stadium in front of them, Jounouchi and Yugi met the source of the shriek – and the poor woman's reason for it. A snarling, drooling creature, with four squat legs and a long thick tail, crouched low on the top step baring its chops at her. The form was reminiscent of a crocodile cornering its prey, but what squatted before them was surely no such thing.

Throbbing veins pulsed along its fat body, with scaly purple flesh peeling away from the meaty muscle in places. When it stretched out a stocky front leg to inch its fat body closer to its target, the boys could see where its flesh had dissolved down to the bare bone. Yugi covered his mouth and nose to avoid the stench of dying flesh.

"Wha-? What the _hell_ is _th__at_!?" Jounouchi cried. It snapped its angry, hungry jaws at the girl while stretching out a stocky leg to strike at the woman's foot, who just barely leaped back in time.

"Kill first, ask later!" demanded the woman. Jounouchi made a move to start up the steps but stopped when he heard the woman's voice. It belonged to neither his sister or to his schoolmate, but he immediately recognized it as belonging to the bold blonde knock-out he'd become lucky enough to call his friend, Mai Kujaku. In the brief moment he took to lay his eyes on her familiar, and always flattered, figure, he sized her up.

The woman's attire was typical of her usual wardrobe – bare legs, boots, tight leather, high skirts and low tops – but she'd traded in her thigh-high heels for a below-the-knee cut footwear, and somehow managed to turn the extra exposed skin into a disadvantage, Jounouchi noticed, with the sighting of a bloody gash across one of her uncovered knees.

The sight of her injury brought him out of his moment of stunned silence with a jolt as he remembered what he was supposed to be doing.

"Right," Jounouchi nodded. He took on an immediate aura of warning as he hurdled up the steps. The monster's attention was fixed on the woman, and he used the opportunity to leap past it and settled into a fighting stance between her and the drooling demon preventing her from escaping the stadium stairway.

Mai held out a small pocket knife in front of her, gripped tightly in a trembling hand. Both the small blade as well as her fingers were smeared with blood. Jounouchi snatched it from her hand.

"Yugi, take her and get yourselves somewhere safe. I'll take care of this… _thing,_" he grimaced with abhorance.

"I don't want to leave you here alone, Jounouchi!" Yugi protested from several steps below, close enough to get involved if needed, but not close enough to put himself in immediate danger. The beast snapped its hungry jaws at Jounouchi, who couldn't help but jump back, but he put up his fists anyway.

"You're not. You're gettin' _her_ outta here while I keep this guy busy. Now go! I'll be right behind you!" Jounouchi faked a sudden movement toward the creature in an attempt to aggravate it away from its prey, and when it snapped back at him, he used his elbow to push the woman toward Yugi.

"I trust you," Yugi stated. He nodded toward Mai and spun away from the stadium.

"Wait!" she called after Yugi. "I can't run!"

Yugi whipped his head back to glance in her direction, and cursed himself for not noticing the bloody gash across her bare knee. It was difficult to tell how deep the injury went, but judging from the dangerous amount of blood that poured down her leg dripping down onto the leather of her boot, Yugi knew she had to be in pain. He returned to her side and placed her arm over his own shoulders and slowly helped her down the steps.

Yugi glanced over his shoulder in time to see Jounouchi lash his foot out at the creature, but he forced himself to turn away from his friend's battle. He helped the woman to a safer place where she could remain hidden from the beast, tucked away behind one of the closed-down snack bars he and Jounouchi had passed on their way to the conflict.

"You should be alright here for a minute," Yugi said. "I'm going to look for something to clean up your leg." Yugi whispered as he ran off to find supplies, "Be careful, Jou."

Jounouchi sized up the angry creature before him and deducted that the tiny knife he wielded would be practically useless. The _thing_ crouched down low to the ground, bearing nasty fangs dripping with saliva. What confused Jounouchi most were the little wings on its scaly back. They looked far too small to carry its fat body an inch in the air. He hoped he was right. One fist of the monster's claws was fixed in a splash of blood on the ground, and the way its dark yellow eyes glared at him, Jounouchi understood very clearly that it was after more of the thick red, life-supplying substance. Whether it sought to spill his blood, or do something more with it, Jounouchi was certain he was not interested in finding out.

The creature snarled more and spit at him as it approached its new target. Abandoning all thoughts of the knife in his hand, he lashed out with his own foot instead, hoping not to lose it in the process. Thankfully, the creature proved to be slow in reacting, and his shoe connected with the side of the thing's head, hard enough to resound with a sick crack.

The beast wobbled on its stumpy legs and shook its huge head, slumped over, and collapsed onto its own legs, no longer moving or making sound aside from moist airy noises from its nostrils. As a test, he inched forward and nudged the thing with his toes, but he got no response.

"You must've knocked it out," came the voice of the blonde from her hiding spot.

"Guess so," he agreed, staring at the strange thing. He caught sight of his friend returning with a white wad of something in his hand, and allowed himself to cautiously turn away from the beast, to the woman now kneeling on one leg with the other stretched out before her, examining her wound.

"Hey, you gonna be-" he'd started to ask, but was distracted by her movement. Her pale curls had dipped in front of her face, threatening to brush against her bloody leg, and she had to flick the locks over one shoulder. Jounouchi was struck with the awareness of just how much he'd missed his friend.

When she noticed Jounouchi hadn't finished his question, the woman's blonde curls bounced as she turned her head up and watched Jounouchi with familiar violet eyes. Her thin red lips curled into a smirk.

"Yes, Jounouchi?" She snickered as she watched him, watching her. He finally seemed to notice he had broken off mid-sentence, and shook himself out of his gazing.

"Uh, nothin'... I was just gonna ask if you're okay, but I can see that gash looks pretty bad. Is... uh, is there anything I can do?" he stumbled awkwardly, but she just smiled at him and shook her head.

"Yugi went to find me bandages."

Jounouchi fumbled for something he should say to her, but he had too many questions in his mind to straighten things out as quickly, or as smoothly, as he would have liked, so he started at what he thought to be a safe point, at least to fill the silence.

"What're you doing here? It's been a good while since you've been around, so... how long are you in town?" He asked each question before she was given a moment to respond, but she had to cut him off, change the subject before he rambled on too far... into territory she didn't yet want to tread.

"Whoa, pal, cool it with the third degree, will you? I'm bleeding here! Priorities, please!" She called Jounouchi back to attention, and he muttered an apology while he knelt down to get a closer look at her injury. Yugi approached just then, eyeing the downed enemy atop the set of stairs with caution.

"Hey, Mai. Here you are. This is the best I could find, but it should help until we can get you to the hospital." He handed her a wad of folded paper towels from the nearest rest room, having raided the dispenser.

"Thanks, Yugi. That should help." She pressed a few sheets against her leg with a hiss of pain, and held them in place until they became too saturated with blood, then replaced them.

"What happened here? It isn't dead… is it?" Yugi asked.

"Don't think so. I got lucky. Think I knocked it out with a well-placed knock to the head."

"I wonder what it is?" Mai questioned. "It looks like some sort of mutant alligator."

Jounouchi snorted. "Yeah, it kinda does. Here, lemme help you." He took a handful of fresh towels and held them to Mai's leg, giving her a moment to lean back and rest.

"Wait a second. I think I know what that is!" Yugi exclaimed. Both the blondes looked at the shorter duelist quizzically, waiting for him to elaborate. "It's a monster!" he explained.

Jounouchi deadpanned. "Yeah, man, we got _that_!" he growled, trying not to sound perturbed.

"No, I mean, a _monster_. From our card game? That's… that's Dragon Zombie. It's a level four monster."

"You really think so?" Mai asked. "I wouldn't know; I don't play with zombies in my deck."

"Not a real monster though, right?" Jounouchi hoped. "It couldn't be."

"You want to call this," Mai gestured to her injured leg, "_not real_? Trust me, whatever that thing is, it's not a hologram, if that's what you're thinking."

"It could be a robot. We are at KaibaLand, after all. Maybe it's part of an attraction gone wrong."

"I hope so, Yug'. Otherwise this is startin' to seem like Atlantis all over again."

Mai shifted uncomfortably at the mention of Atlantis, and she pulled away from her friend, using her own hand to wrap fresh towels over her wound. Memories of Dartz and the Orichalcos flooded her mind, and she shivered visibly.

"Dammit, I'm an idiot," Jounouchi muttered, and Mai's gaze shot up to meet his. "You've gotta be cold. Here." Jounouchi removed his jacket and moved to wrap it around the woman.

Mai let out a disappointed sigh, wondering what her heart had been _expecting_ him to say next. She decided to push him away, but tried to look playful doing so and avoid adding to the tension she felt threatening her own lungs. She suspected though, that she was the only one to feel it's grip.

"No, I don't want your coat, Jounouchi. It probably smells like a football team's locker room." She shoved the garment away, and he tried not to pout. "I'm fine," she said quietly.

"We really ought to get to the phone so we can call her an ambulance. I know you're tough, Mai, but I don't think you should try to walk to get medical attention, even if you think you can."

She sighed. The 'dorks', as she used to think of them, still knew that would be just like her. "Whatever," she relented without a fight.

"Good call, man. You wanna look for the phone? I'd better stay here with Mai in case that thing wakes up." Yugi nodded and went off in the direction he remembered seeing the nearest payphone.

Mai glanced sideways at Jou, who was still kneeling on the ground beside her. "You'd better not try anything, mister. I am injured, after all."

"Oh, _now_ you wanna play up the 'damsel in distress', miss 'I-can-look-after-myself'?"

"Yes, now that I'm bleeding profusely, I think that's fair!" Her voice took on a sassy tone, but inside she couldn't help but smile. "And by the way, who gave you permission to take my knife?"

"You call this little toothpick a knife?"

"It's nice to have when I'm out on the street, you know! A lady might not know what kind of creeps she might run into these days."

"Oh, whatever!" Jounouchi mocked. He found himself laughing in the midst of their faux-argument. They were certainly in the middle of a predicament, but it wasn't unfamiliar to them, and Jou knew he'd missed his friend. He suspected she might have missed him a little, too.

"Hey." Jounouchi said after a moment of comfortable silence passed between them. "What're you doin' out here, anyway?"

Mai sighed again and let her free hand rest on her unharmed knee. "You're not going to get all mushy on me, are you Jou?"

"Nah. It's just been a while since we got to hang out. Heck... we've _never_ gotten to really 'hang out'. Not like friends should get to."

"That sounds a little mushy to me," she said with a laugh that died sooner than she'd meant it to. "Look… There's just… been a lot of stuff. I-" Mai stumbled over her words, but found herself unable to explain what she wanted to say... what she had _come back_ to say.

"Yeah, I know," Jounouchi said, seeming to understand anyway, much to Mai's relief. "I'm sure I got a few things I oughta… well, whatever. Never mind. I'm just happy to see ya." He looked back up at the creature lying a few yards from them. "I think we got somethin' a little bigger on our hands." Mai nodded. The two looked up when they saw Yugi returning. He appeared dismayed.

"What's up, man? Problems?"

"Yeah. I couldn't get through. I found the phone alright, but there was no dial tone. I couldn't call anyone." The small duelist sat down on the ground with his friends.

"So what do we do now? We gotta find some way to get Mai some help."

"Maybe we can find somewhere that she can rest more comfortably for a while."

"...Sounds like a plan. Dunno what else we can do, and that beats sittin' here till someone finds us."

"Hey, you guys?" Mai interrupted with hesitation in her voice. "I may not have been back in Domino for long, but," she looked up at the darkening sky and questioned its appearance, "I don't remember sunset ever making the sky turn... _green._"

Yugi and Jounouchi followed her gaze and noted the clouds they had paid no heed before. The clouds themselves, unusual greenish-grey hue aside, were oddly formed. Instead of appearing large and fluffy like rain clouds or an enormous front covering the overcast sky, the tiny water particles formed thick wavy lines across the sky, looking almost like an aurora made of clouds.

"No... I don't think our city's ever done _that_ before..." Jounouchi rose to his feet. The pit of his stomach rushed with a feeling of dread, like thick tar weighing down his core. He could only chalk the feeling up to a duelist's instinct. He hadn't used, or even worn, his duel-disk for months, but without its weight, the arm which usually sported the machine suddenly felt uncomfortably light and bare. He felt defenseless in the midst of the mystifying chaos, like a warrior deposited in the middle of a battlefield, equipped with neither shield, nor sword.


End file.
